According to a new press release, there is going to be a new, short, television series coming in the fall of 2006. Here’s the release and my commentary. – LC

Sci Fi Channel Announces New Program Will Explore Bigfoot, Mothman, and Other “Controversial” Topics

Experts Join “Boston Rob” Mariano on “SCI FI Investigates” Team

Pasadena, Calif. — July 13, 2006 — SCI FI Investigates is a new SCI FI Channel series that explores the sweeping and eclectic mysteries and legends that pervade our world. Produced in a partnership with NBC News Productions, this six-part, one-hour weekly series is a real-life X-Files, aggressively exploring the unexplained. Investigations are led by an array of subject-specific authorities including, as was previously announced, Survivor and Amazing Race alumnus and resident cynic Rob Mariano.

[Dr. William H. Doleman contributes as the project leader to the book Roswell Dig Diaries, Richard M. Dolan is the author of UFOs and the National Security State, and Deborah Dobrydney appears to have a background in psychology but is a relatively unknown. Where are the zoological, natural history, or physical anthropology “experts”? The team seems heavily-oriented to UFOs. Of course, I totally agree with “Boston Rob’s” choice of a major league baseball team!- LC]

Richard M. Dolan

[In an earlier April 2006 press release, the Sci Fi Channel mentioned the following as the show’s line-up: “Survivor and Amazing Race alumnus Rob Mariano is joining the ‘SCI FI Investigates’ team, which also includes an array of subject-specific authorities including forensic expert Lisa Van Camp, tech wiz John Greenwald (actually this should be correctly spelled “Greenewald”), scientist Dr. Bill Doleman and journalist Len Cannon. Mariano will be the resident “jack of all trades,” offering pragmatic, resourceful input on a variety of investigations.” I do wonder if the membership has changed, as well as Mariano move into a more cynical approach? BTW, John Greenewald, Jr. is the author of Beyond UFO Secrecy, thus reinforcing my notions that the Roswell/UFO experts are the one that are mostly being mentioned. – LC]

Capitalizing on the experience and resources of NBC News Productions, the series and its team of investigators will seek out new evidence by using the latest forensic technology to reveal fresh perspectives on world-renowned mysteries.

Today, Thomas Vitale, SCI FI Channel Senior Vice President of Programming and Original Movies, has announced the first group of topics the SCI FI Investigates team will be examining when the series premieres in the fall. They are:

Bigfoot: New sightings are making news and SCI FI Investigates does whatever it takes to secure legitimate evidence of the legendary creature’s existence.

Mothman: A real-life nightmare that made headlines around the world, recent sightings of a terrifying winged apparition, known as the Mothman, takes SCI FI Investigates deep into the mountains of West Virginia.

[Actually, most Mothman investigations happen in the Ohio River town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, not in the mountains of Appalachia, of course. – LC]

Paranormal Hotspots: As hubs for such uncommon occurrences as UFO sightings, cattle mutilations and unexplained paranormal activity, Dulce, New Mexico and Sedona, Arizona are quite unique. SCI FI Investigates gets to the root of the disturbances that have put these cities on the paranormal map.

Roswell Revisited: 2006 marks the 60th anniversary of the alleged crash of an alien spacecraft in Roswell, New Mexico. SCI FI Investigates revisits this controversial location as startling new evidence has recently surfaced.

[Memo to NBC News Production: Get some new batteries for that calculator. LOL. The Roswell crash supposedly happened in July 1947, which won’t be 60 years ago until 2007. – LC]

The Afterlife: What happens at the moment of death? Evidence has suggested that the human consciousness can function independent of the body. Our team members explore altered states (sensory depravation, past life regression, etc.) in an effort to find the ultimate truth.

Voodoo: There is more to Voodoo than tales of dolls and pins. To learn the truth about this religion, the SCI FI Investigates team heads to New Orleans to experience its practices first hand.

NBC News Productions is an in-house production unit serving NBC News, NBC’s Entertainment Division and all of the NBC-owned cable channels. Recent productions include Biography of the Year, a People Magazine People of the Year special and the seven-hour Greatest American with Matt Lauer special. News Productions has also done three documentaries for SCI FI Channel: a two-hour special Bermuda Triangle: Startling New Secrets with Lester Holt, Countdown to Doomsday with Matt Lauer, and Quest for Atlantis: Startling New Secrets, with Natalie Morales. In addition, the in-house production group oversees a DVD division that works closely with Universal to produce bonus material included in new DVD releases.

SCI FI Channel is a television network where “what if” is what’s on. SCI FI fuels the imagination of viewers with original series and events, blockbuster movies and classic science fiction and fantasy programming, as well as a dynamic Web site www.scifi.com and magazine. Launched in 1992, and currently in 85 million homes, SCI FI Channel is a network of NBC Universal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies.

The above is a press release from Sci Fi. The bracketed comments are by me, Loren Coleman of Cryptomundo. Disclaimer: “Sci Fi Investigates” was to fly me to Point Pleasant to be interviewed for the program in July 2006, but there appears to be some technical difficulties developing. Their or my trip to West Virginia has been delayed.

About Loren ColemanLoren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

Yes, of course, Mothman and Thunderbird sightings are as recent as last week’s Bigfoot encounters and yesterday’s Black Panther accounts. Go to the Cryptomundo column at the upper right here on this page, and click on “Mothman” and “Thunderbirds.”

Howdy, I’m new to this site so I figure I’d say hi. To me, the media and the unknown are a bad mix. The media almost always tries to make out like bigfoot is fake and none of this paranormal stuff is real. They try to debunk it, (doing a poor job every time.) This time with former survivors from the bad show. This is no doubt a gig to get ratings. I’ll still watch the first episode, just to see how it is.

This show will denigrate the entire paranormal field. What’s sad is that what other outlet is there on television to do a series like this but SciFi? When even they make a farce of it all hope for any serious mainstream discussion seems lost.

It is sad that they are going the “saucer” route. The dogmatic attitudes of “believers” and “debunkers” are at their most stark in this context (I suppose making for the sort of reality TV-esque drama that sells nowadays).

Even sadder that they are wasting an episode on Roswell.

I’ve said for years that the fact that the ’47 newspaper report was largely “below the radar” until the info was “passed” to Stan Friedman in the early 80’s, coupled with descriptions of “grey” type entities at Roswell, (a body type which became common following the beginning of the ‘abductee era’ of saucers and the “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” movie) when most reports of UFOnauts from the “contactee” period following the alleged crash were more human and the rare CE3s of the pre-abductee era ranged from the short elephant eared beings in Kelly, KY (1955) to the tall, “Flatwoods Monster” of Flatwoods WVa (1952), make me very suspect of the validity of the Roswell stories.

In this case government misinformation to cover up post WWII missile experiments (or other cold war era tests), while still a conspiracy theory, seems a much more likely explanation. And just plain old media hype seems even more likely to me.

Most mainstream TV programs dealing with the paranormal or cryptozoological tend to start off accepting the premise that it is highly unlikely that the creatures or phenomenon in question exist. The “experts” selected to be interviewed tend to support the producers cynical stance. The best we can usually hope for is a tongue in cheek approach that at least allows some people from the less cyncial side of the fence to state their case.

Eeek. For what it’s worth, most of what I’ve read associates Mothman with UFOs. Its not that big a shock to see it headed that way on this show. I wonder who decides how these “investigations” are undertaken? I wonder what critera is used…what equipment, etc. I hope they do call you in, Loren. And then I hope they don’t edit you out!

I think that the search for Bigfoot and other things which are unusual needs more debunking. For example attempting to debunk of the Patterson film might either show that it was possible for Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin to fake the film or it was not. Either way we come closer to the truth which really is what Cryptozoology and other paranormal investigations objective is. However I’ve seen other shows like this, there was one about ghosts on the travel channel I think. The name eludes me. However it was laughable. I don’t expect much more from the Sci-Fi channel but I’ll give them a chance.

I think it sounds like it would be worth watching at least once to get the gist of the program, irregardless of Boston Rob. Of course, they will go to all kinds of lengths to try to hook a viewer, look what they did to Autumn William’s show on Bigfoot. It was a complete waste of time through no fault of her own.

My first comment here was a bit tongue in cheek actually. If done correctly this kind of show could do some good, but with the track record of such shows, I rather doubt this one will even approach that intellegent level

Boston Rob. Geez..HOW did HE get a show like this. I too thought his 15 minutes of fame was over. Guess I was wrong. I just hope it take a serious look at these events and isn’t making fun of them. Caroline

I just found this blog and didn’t realize that the word is getting out on our show.

We shot the Big Foot episode last month, and I must say I was sorry that Loren was not consulted. Nonetheless, I am reasonably confident that the show will have some positives in portraying BF.

The thing about the Sci Fi series is that the four host/investigators have a very, very different perspective on these various topics of inquiry. Loren is right in the sense that there is a somewhat heavy ufo emphasis, although I am the only “pro” ufo person on the team, and indeed really the only pro-“weirdness” person in general.

When I agreed to do the show, I initially thought it would be a modern version of In Search Of or some such thing. Well, it isn’t. There is the genuine investigative aspect of it, and then there is the interaction among the four of us.

For the record, I think the most fun parts are those in which Boston Rob and I mix it up on camera. There are a few of those. 🙂

The Bigfoot episode does feature three very credible, recent witnesses. In my view, all come across very well on camera.

As far as I am concerned, anything TV touches will be sensationalized for ratings. I don’t expect a fair look at the facts. (Mystery hairs and scat aren’t “sexy”!!) There have been on occasion excellent coverage, but they are few and far between.